Cincinnati Ballet - Later History

Later History

Through the Kaplan Foundation and the Budig Foundation, a new permanent home was built for the company. The Cincinnati Ballet Center on Central Parkway at Liberty Street opened in 1994. The Otto M. Budig Academy of Cincinnati Ballet was launched in 1996. Offices, dance studios, a training school, wardrobe/costume storage, and rehearsal space were all in the same complex. The intimate Mickey Jarson Kaplan Performance Studio was added in 2005.

The Aronoff Center for the Arts became the permanent home for the repertoire series of performances and a number of ballets were acquired. “Americana” ballets such as Agnes DeMille’s Rodeo, and modern dance pieces by Paul Taylor challenged the dancers and intrigued audiences. In 1996, Balanchine’s full-length Jewels, was performed by the company. Other contemporary choreographers included Kirk Peterson, Kathryn Posin, Stanton Welch and Val Caniparoli, Trey McIntyre in addition to Nigel Burgoine and Victoria Morgan, who was appointed artistic director in 1997.

Artistic Director and CEO Morgan, whose tenure continues at the present time, has honored the Cincinnati Ballet tradition of performing not only new works, but also keeping the historic repertoire alive. An example was the tribute to Frederic Franklin and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 2002. The ballets presented were Devil’s Holiday by Frederick Ashton, plus the third movement of Seventh Symphony (music by Beethoven), and Gaîte Parisienne, choreographed by Leonide Massine.

Franklin restaged the two remaining extant movements from Seventh Symphony two seasons later, aided by Cincinnati Ballet’s Principal Ballet Mistress and former Cincinnati Ballet soloist dancer Johanna Bernstein Wilt, who researched and recreated all three Seventh Symphony movements from the original 16 mm film with coaching from Franklin.

Also of note were three collaborations between Cincinnati Ballet and BalletMet Columbus. Together the companies presented Balanchine’s Jewels (2003), Stars and Stripes (2006) and a full-length production of Swan Lake (2009).

In 2008 Devon Carney, a former principal dancer and Ballet Master with Boston Ballet, was appointed as Associate Artistic Director. In addition to providing his own choreography for nine pieces, Carney has restaged and added fresh choreography to full-length classics such as Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake to this date and during his five previous years as Ballet Master-in-Chief.